The Boilers and Cats have combined to go 23-0 in conference play this season — Kewanee 14-0 in the Three Rivers Conference and Galva 9-0 in the Lincoln Trail Conference with Friday night's road finale at United remaining.

Boilers beat BV for TRAC-9 title

Kewanee coach Steve Salisbury said the team set the TRAC-9 title as a goal this season. Once the Boilers cleared a couple of key hurdles — beating Sterling Newman 58-56 in early December and Riverdale 78-73 in mid-January — that goal was upgraded to unbeaten TRAC-9 champions.

"The kids were pretty proud after the game," said Salisbury of Tuesday night's 49-44 Senior Night win over Bureau Valley. "We didn't play our best game, but we did enough to win."

One the keys to Kewanee's success this season is its offensive depth. Dayton Ince and Donovan Oliver have been scoring constants for the Boilers, but a number of players — Matt Gustafson, Dalton Nuding, Ryan Hicks and Jared Nimrick — have shouldered the scoring load on occasion. Salisbury also lauded David Washburn for distributing the basketball and guarding the opposition's best player each night.

"I think they've matured and bought into the idea of it doesn't matter who's scoring or who's getting the credit, just as long as we win," said Salisbury.

Kewanee's perfect 14-0 run marks the second time in three seasons the Boilers have gone unbeaten in conference play.

Now 22-4 overall, the Boilers are off until meeting Orion in the semifinals of the Class 2A Rockridge Regional at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"Last year was a huge accomplishment and this group sat down at the end of the last season and talked about building on that success,” said Jones. “They have really worked hard and really earned it. They have won a lot of close games.”

While Wethersfield denied Galva a repeat LTC tourney title, the Wildcats returned the favor with a 67-64 regular-season win over the Geese. Galva also survived LTC close calls against Mercer County (57-55), Ridgewood (67-52 with a 28-12 run in the fourth quarter), ROWVA (45-41), West Central (68-64), Stark County (69-62 with a 27-17 run in the fourth quarter) and Annawan (88-77 in overtime).

“They are a very, very competitive group of kids,” said Jones. “So far this year when games have been on the line, they’ve really stepped up and made big plays.”

The trio of Dexter Ingels, Reece Hoxworth and David Jeffries has shouldered the scoring burden for the Wildcats.

Page 2 of 2 - “They have really stayed together as a team,” said Jones. “After our losses, they were focused the next day in practice.”

Regular season wraps Friday

Wethersfield, Galva, Annawan and Ridgewood conclude the regular season Friday night, while Kewanee, Stark County and Bureau Valley are done until the postseason tips Monday.